What i've found with some of the really tiny linux distros is they are compressed images that expand themsleves as they boot. They work great "out of the box" but i'm not entirely sure how to make modifications to them or make added software "stick"
I've tried puppy and I've tried Tinycore but didn't find either suitable ( i forget why exactly)
SLiTaZ is a new one on me as is Lubuntu. I'll give them both a go. starting with Lubuntu as Ubuntu is the version of linux i'm most familiar with.
Thanks for you suggestions